KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $8.9167.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KREF shares. Zacks Research raised shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $9.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the second quarter valued at $40,349,000. Conversant Capital LLC acquired a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the first quarter worth $9,000,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the second quarter worth $2,744,000. Compass Rose Asset Management LP bought a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $2,754,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $1,602,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Price Performance

NYSE KREF opened at $6.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.93. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a twelve month low of $5.25 and a twelve month high of $9.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $397.76 million, a PE ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 407.64 and a current ratio of 407.64.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($0.02). KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a negative net margin of 47.33% and a negative return on equity of 1.53%. The business had revenue of $29.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.97 million. Research analysts anticipate that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 0.28 EPS for the current year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s payout ratio is currently -12.20%.

About KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc (NYSE: KREF) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that originates, acquires and manages commercial real estate loans. The company primarily provides senior loans secured by institutional-quality properties, with a focus on generating income from commercial real estate credit investments.

KREF’s investments are generally backed by properties in sectors such as multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality and other commercial real estate categories.